Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-05-11

the present rate Is lnSumclent to protect
them against ruinous competition.
Last year, Notwithstanding the duty of
16 cents per bushel, France imported more
than twenty-five million bushels of grain
A tariff of 81 cents per bushel will practi-
cally shut us out from this market.
1t has been commonly supposed that the
consumption of wheat, per capita, among
the people of Europe was increasing, as the
working classes have been receiving better
wages and advancing in the scale Of living.
On the contrary, it has been ascertained
that the average consumption of wheat
(per capita) in Great Britain has slightly
decreased in the last fifteen years, while
the price of bread has decreased 40 per
cent. The cause of this is found in the
fact that the diet is more varied-more
garden vegetables are consumed, and more
meat, milk, &c.
1t is not SO easy to stock the market with
meat as with grain or tobacco, for obvious
reasons, and yet the increasing use of, and
improvement in, refrigerating ships and
cars should make US careful to study the
most economical methods of stock-raising
and fattening, if we would compete sue.
cessfully with the Argentine Republic and
far off Australia, and with the great plains
of Texas and Montana. AS long as only
lice animals could be transported to great
distance, those who lived near the centres
of consumption had such an advantage that
they did not much fear competition from a
distance. But when single steamer can
carry beef, from the Falkland islands, or
from Australia, to Europe, we see that
vicinity to market does not secure to us the
advantage it once did,
He next discusses the causes of the low
price of tobacco and other staples not pro-
duced in the Valley and continues as fol-
lows
GAIL things considered, I think we may
make up our minds to expect moderate
prices to prevail for all kinds of produce
There are contingencies which would
change this state of things-such as a gene
raj expansion of the currency (from remone-
tization of silver) or great discovery of
gold, general failures of crops, &c., but
these are not likely to occur. Every year
there is less chance of finding rich placer
deposits of gold like those of Australia and
California, as less and less of the earth's
surface is left unexplored. The worlds
production of gold has fallen off Just when
it is most needed-when the supply is in
adequate to the wants of commerce, and to
it's greatly increased use in the arts Gold
has gone up and almost everything else has
gone down.
If this and other governments would ex-
pend as much money as has been almost
wasted on Arctic expeditions in sending
out wellequipped parties, comprising scien-
tific mineralogists and practical miners and
prospectors, to search for gold fields or
other mineral wealth il such regions as are
still wholly or partially unexplored, Alaska
for instance, or the Northwest Territory of
British America, the beneficial results to-
the people at large would, or might be, in
calculably great.
But we cannot afford to wait for relief
from this source or from the RECOMMENDATION
of silver, of which there is very faint hope
at present. 1t could be made effectual in
expanding the currency only by general
international agreement, all the great CON-
mercial countries consenting. If there are
any dissentients, mutual .jealousies and
fears will prevent the other powers from
rehabilitating silver
So we come back to the question of the
hour-the vital one for us, the farmers
"What are we to do ?'' The first thing l
suggest is, that every farmer should set to
work making calculations and investiga-
tions more closely than he ever did in all
his life-should try and do this fairly and
justly, not despondently on the one hand,
or as visionary on the other. AS leading
up to this calculation, and to help US in
making it fairly, the long and somewhat
disjointed foregoing statement of facts and
theories has been introduced. If it is al
most certain that prices will in the future
be generally lower and more equable than
heretofore, if it is so and we can't help it,
| think it places us on vantage ground to
know what we are to expect-tO have some
idea of the probable value of what we ere
trying to make. Farmers very seldom &C
cumulate money-did not even in flush
times, when they might have done SO, for
the reason that under the double uncer-
tainty of crops and prices, their incomes
fluctuated SO violently. There was room
for most extravagant calculations-for in
stance, & crop of wheat might have been
sown when the grain was worth So per
bushel, and by the time the crop was
reaped might have dropped to one dollar.
At the former price there would be hand
some profit and income-at the latter there
might be zone at all. Now, farmers, like
other men, are apt to be sanguine, and are
won't to adapt their expenditures to the
higher scale-that of good years and high
prices-and so, when bad years came they
exceeded their incomes, hoping that neat
year would make up the losses of the last.
l hold, then. that uniform prices, even if
lo1o, have the advantage of helping farmers
to adjust their expenses to their receipts !;
and primarily to form some idea OF the
probable profit as compared with the cost
of production.
Then, having got down to hard-pan, we
must make close observation-disclosures on
the Lowest probable basis.
We must not fold our arms and say that
everything is below the cost of production;
there is nothing that is SO for everybody,
although it may be in some places and for
some people. But there is, as everybody
knows, vastly more profit in some crops
than in others, according to circumstances
and it is all important for the farmer to
make wise selection. Let him not waste
his energies in trying to make what his
land is not suited for.
Here Virginia has great advantages in
the almost illimitable variety of products
to which we can turn our attention. Is
your land strong soil, good for wheat and
such grasses as timothy and blue grass,
which require a tenacious and calcareous
soil? Is it better for corn and oats than for
wheat, or for orchard grass and clover than
for timothy? Are you situated where you
CoH SioW NCSCGdOlto lEulLS Ill
perfection, and can ship them to market
speedily and conveniently? Or is the land
better for grapes, with regard to sell and
facilities for shipping the fruit or making
wine? Or growing fine apples, cherries, or
other fruit? Or peanuts or cotton, or to-
bacco-bright or sun-cured, or heavy ship
ping9 Or will you turn your attention
principally to dairying Or to meat-raising
Or breeding horses and mules for market? |
Here is an opening for profitable farming
that has been strangely neglected by our
people, except in portion of the Valley
The skilful breeder of large coach horses,
for instance, would have sure market at |
high prices for all the fine animals he could
raise. AS in breeding cattle, sheep, hogs,
bees, and in every other industry, there is
requisite for success, care, close attention !
and watchfulness, SO it must be in breeding
horses; and the prize held out to the sue
cessful breeder is a rich one. A handsome
pair of matched horses is readily sold in
New York at from 5000 up, according to